The Warden
} |name = The Warden |image = Default Player.jpg |caption = Default Human, Elven and Dwarven Female and Male Characters |title = Grey Warden (Origins) Warden-Commander of Ferelden (Awakening) Arl/Arlessa of Amaranthine (ex-officio) Champion of Redcliffe Hero of Ferelden |gender = Male or female |race = Human, elf or dwarf |appearances = Dragon Age: Origins Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening Dragon Age II (mentioned) Dragon Age: Inquisition (mentioned)The Bioware Forum-Not sure if I should cry or be hopeful.. DAO warden in DAI The Descent (mentioned) Trespasser (mentioned) |affiliation = Grey Wardens|}} The Warden, commonly known as the Hero of Ferelden, is the player-controlled protagonist of Dragon Age: Origins. This character will hail from one of six social classes ranging from casteless dwarf or landless elf to Fereldan noble or even dwarven royalty. After playing through one of these origins, he or she will join the Grey Wardens during the events of Dragon Age: Origins and may even rise to the rank of Warden-Commander in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening. Involvement Dragon Age: Origins As the origin story is played out, the protagonist is recruited by Duncan, leader of Ferelden's Grey Wardens, to aid King Cailan Theirin and his troops against an incoming army of darkspawn at Ostagar. This is where the main plot of Dragon Age: Origins begins. The Warden's primary mission is to gather an army and defeat a Blight; however, political tensions, disruptions and numerous other distractions (and inspirations) are bound to cross our hero's path. The actions and words of the Warden are always chosen by the player, and have a wide range of outcomes (both for the story's end and for the fates of the Warden's allies, enemies and rivals). Unlike many other RPGs, the cumulative result of these choices is not tracked by a single meter or bar; rather, each companion has a meter reflecting that individual's reactions to the Warden's decisions. The Grey Wardens recovered the Warden's body after the battle, and interred them at Weisshaupt in a magnificent tomb next to Garahel's.According to the epilogue. }} After the Blight ended the Warden was acclaimed as the Hero of Ferelden, and accorded the highest honour, achieving a legendary status across Thedas. ''Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening'' Six months after the conclusion of the Fifth Blight, the Warden has been promoted to Commander of the Grey and assigned as Ferelden's new Warden-Commander succeeding Duncan. The new Warden-Commander has been tasked to rebuild the Grey Warden Order's presence there. The Wardens have been given the fortress of Vigil's Keep - formerly the seat of Arl Rendon Howe - as a home base as well as rule over the Arling of Amaranthine. Even though the archdemon is now dead, the darkspawn have not retreated back to the Deep Roads (as was natural following prior Blights) and there are reports of a new, highly intelligent breed of darkspawn. This new darkspawn identify themselves as the Disciples. Through investigation, the Warden discovers that the darkspawn have broken into two warring factions, led by two unique darkspawn: the Mother and the other led by the Architect. Both amass darkspawn armies and their civil war threaten the safety of Amaranthine. The Warden tries to stem the darkspawns' destructive capabilities until the Mother eventually sends her legions to simultaneously attack both the City of Amaranthine and Vigil's Keep, thus dividing the Commander's forces. Eventually, the Commander chooses to save one of these bases, integral to Amaranthine's survival, and repels the Mother's offensive. The Architect then offers an alliance with the Warden in exchange for allowing him and his followers to continue their work in peace. The Warden-Commander can either accept the alliance or refuse and have their forces kill the Architect. The Mother was slain by the Grey Wardens and peace was restored to Amaranthine but at great cost.}} Witch Hunt Dragon Age II Dragon Age: Inquisition Trespasser Character creation Character Creation 1.jpg|Origin selection Character Creation 2.jpg|Facial construction Character Creation 3.jpg|Attributes allocation Character Creation 4.jpg|Skills allocation Character Creation 5.jpg|Abilities allocation The player begins by selecting a gender, race (human, elf or dwarf), and class (warrior, rogue or mage); the mage class is unavailable to dwarves. The next step is to select the character's background; depending on the chosen race/class combination, only one or two of the six backgrounds will be available. These are Human Noble for human warriors and rogues, Dalish Elf or City Elf for elven warriors and rogues, and Dwarf Commoner or Dwarf Noble for all dwarves; elven and human mages invariably share the same origin. Then comes the option to customize name, physical features (only above the shoulders) and portrait, and choose a voice set. Attributes and skills are selected next. If playing as a warrior or rogue, talents are selected; mages select spells instead. Finally, the player selects his or her preferred difficulty level and the story begins. First name A default name is offered according to the origin and gender, but this can be changed to whatever the player chooses (with a limitation of 10 characters in length). Note: No one will call the Warden by name, but it does show up in some dialogue choices. ;Male * Human Noble: Aedan * Human Mage: Daylen * Elf Mage: Alim * City Elf: Darrian * Dalish Elf: Theron * Dwarf Noble: Duran * Dwarf Commoner: Faren ;Female * Human Noble: Elissa * Human Mage: Solona * Elf Mage: Neria * City Elf: Kallian * Dalish Elf: Lyna * Dwarf Noble: Sereda * Dwarf Commoner: Natia Last name While the player can select the first name of the character freely, each origin imposes a fixed surname: * Human Noble: Cousland * Human Mage: Amell * Elf Mage: Surana * City Elf: Tabris * Dalish Elf: Mahariel * Dwarf Noble: Aeducan * Dwarf Commoner: Brosca Note that six origins have been mentioned, but seven names are listed; this is because both human and elf mages follow the same origin story in the Circle Tower. Starting abilities Each character has automatically 'spent' two skill points and one spell or talent point. During character creation the player spends one more skill point and two more spell/talent points. The automatic levels depend on class and origin. On the Xbox 360, the Warden gets one additional rank in Combat Training. Level As is typical for role-playing games, a character's level indicates the progress of the character's career and personal power. When the character "levels up", certain things are automatically increased (health and stamina/mana), while other things (talents and attributes) must be manually increased, unless Autolevel is activated. There is a "hard" level cap of 25 in Origins. Since enemies do not re-spawn, there is only enough content in the game (including DLC) to complete it between levels 17 and 24 (depending on how many side quests and codex entries are completed). A well-used rogue can gain the party significant experience over the course of their adventures by picking locks and disarming traps. In any case, level 25 can be reached by donating profusely to the Allied Supply Crates in the Camp. In Awakening, the level cap is raised to 35; this increase also affects The Golems of Amgarrak and Witch Hunt DLC. Equipment Player characters have the following equipment slots: Warden-restricted items Dragon Age: Origins Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening See also * The Sacred Heart Quotes * Morrigan: "Tis cold in my tent, all alone..." * Warden: "Then get a thicker blanket." * Sten: "Interesting strategy. Tell me: Do you intend to keep going north until it becomes south, and attack the archdemon from the rear?" * Warden: "It'll never see this coming." * Warden: "They will bow before my might." * Guard: "Eh, then it's good to have you sir." Titles * Grey Warden * Hero of Ferelden * Champion of Redcliffe Origin specific titles * Prince/Princess of Orzammar – (Dwarf Noble Origin) * Lord/Lady of Highever – (Human Noble Origin) * Mage from the Circle of Magi – (Magi Origin) Possible titles * Warden-Commander of Ferelden * Arl/Arlessa of Amaranthine – (ex-officio) * Teyrn/Teyrna of Gwaren – (If selected as reward) * Chancellor of Ferelden – (If selected as reward) * Dark Wolf – (after completing the fourth mark of Crime Wave) Possible origin specific titles * Prince-consort of Ferelden – if married to Queen Anora (male Human Noble Warden only) * Queen of Ferelden – if married to King Alistair (female Human Noble Warden only) * Paragon – (Dwarven Warden only) * Bann of Denerim Alienage – (City Elf Origin only)}} Trivia * According to certain Circle apprentices, the Warden once bedded a lady pirate and three greased nugs. Whether this is true or not depends entirely on player actions. * Hawke is related to the human Warden (actual or 'potential') from the Magi Origin through their mothers, who are both from the Amell family. This Warden's mother's name is Revka, according to Leandra in Dragon Age II, and she and Revka are cousins.- Lead Writer David Gaider forum post * The nobles (human and dwarf) are the only Wardens to have their surnames (or indeed, any name) spoken by Origins NPCs; the rest are addressed at the most (as "Grey Warden", "Warden" and/or "my Lord/Lady"). However a Dalish Warden imported into Dragon Age II will be referred to by Merrill and her clan as "Mahariel". *Dialogue in Dragon Age II implies that the Human Mage Warden has at least one sibling, as Leandra says that he/she is only "one of her cousin Revka's children." The World of Thedas Vol. II explicitly notes that Revka had 5 children. The Amell Family codex entry from Dragon Age II further notes that all of Revka's children were mages and were taken by the Circle eventually. The Warden is possibly the eldest of these, though this is not confirmed. *The Warden is a female Dalish elf Warrior who made the ultimate sacrifice in the default option of Dragon Age Keep.David Gaider Forum Post, Bioware Social Network http://social.bioware.com/en/forum/1/topic/371/index/17179465/1#17181002 * According to Mary Kirby, no matter the Warden's race, class, or gender, Sten views him or her as a fluke like "some sort of ambulatory pair of pants or talking horse," since a competent and honorable person outside of the Qun appears impossible to him.Bioware Social Network. Female Qunari Fighters. * The elven Wardens are the only Wardens that do not have siblings, excluding the Magi Origin elf, as there is no evidence either way. The Elf Mage is also the only origin who is completely lacking in familial information. * The Dwarf Noble is the only origin that, if not selected, will have his or her NPC incarnation's gender explicitly stated in conversation as male.See this image. * When importing the Warden into Witch Hunt, the world map will note that Miriam and the village council have returned to the area and dedicated a shrine outside of the Chantry to the Hero of Ferelden and those lost during the Fifth Blight. * The city elf Warden's fiance's (either Nesiara or Nelaros) family is respected in Highever, even among some humans. *According to the series' writers and developers, the difficulty involved in bringing the Warden physically into future Dragon Age games includes giving a voice to a voiceless character as well as the sense that the Hero of Ferelden is in fact "too important" to the series for justice to be done to them at present.PC Gamer magazine, June 2015. Alternative endings for other origins Gallery Warden 1 (Calling trailer).png|The Warden pictured in the Calling trailer. Default Player CGI.jpg|The Warden seen in the Sacred Ashes trailer. Warden 2 (Calling trailer).png|Backview of the Warden during the Calling trailer. Grey_Warden_HODA.png|The Warden's story begins in Heroes of Dragon Age See also * Tattoo References es:El Guarda de:Der Wächter Category:Characters Category:Playable characters Category:Dragon Age: Origins characters Category:Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening characters Category:Grey Wardens Category:Fereldans Category:Free Marchers Category:Humans Category:Elves Category:Dwarves Category:Warriors Category:Rogues Category:Magi Category:Royalty Category:Circle of Magi members Category:Free Marcher nobility Category:Dalish Category:City elves Category:Noble caste Category:Casteless dwarves Category:Fereldan nobility Category:Warrior caste Category:Carta members Category:Paragons Category:Reavers Category:Duelists Category:Spirit healers Category:Blood mages Category:Assassins Category:Keepers Category:Berserkers Category:Bards Category:Shadows